As Ky. Cops Cleared Protest, Shots Fired; 1 Dead

Chief: Police, National Guard were clearing Louisville lot near protests when shots exchanged
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2020 7:20 AM CDT
Ky. Police: Cops Shot, Killed Man After Parking Lot Gunfire
Police and Kentucky National Guard troops chase protesters as they flee toward a fence Sunday in a parking lot in downtown Louisville.   (Max Gersh/The Courier-Journal via AP)

A man was shot and killed by police in Louisville, Ky., early Monday after a night of violent protests there for George Floyd. WLKY reports the shooting took place around 12:15am, with the Louisville Metro Police Department saying that shots were fired at police officers first. LMPD Chief Steve Conrad tells WAVE that police officers and National Guard members who'd been working the protests were moved to shelter at a local market after the protests turned violent. While they were clearing that parking lot of people they were fired upon, and so they returned fire, he notes.

A witness tells WLKY that the people in the lot were violating the city's curfew but weren't protesting. The station adds it's not clear whether the deceased, as yet unidentified, was one of the people police say fired upon them. CBS News notes that Louisville is where 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was killed by plainclothes cops in March after they burst into her apartment in the middle of the night while executing a search warrant, and that her name is one of several being mentioned at the nationwide protests. Conrad tells WAVE that multiple people of interest are being questioned in Monday's shooting. "I think it is very clear that many people do not trust police," he says, adding it's "an issue that we are going to have to work on and work through for a long time." (More Louisville stories.)

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